For a couple of weeks my ge8 has been doing some strange stuff....if I'm driving with the lights on and the ac on the lights flicker so much to the point that it looks like I'm flashing somebody...aside of that the other day I was taking a sharp turn and all of the sudden my radio reset itself (I had my iPod connected and the radio turned off and came right back on) and at the same time it felt like the power cut off and steering wheel got stiff, I almost crashed!....I'm gonna take it to the dealer on the weekend and I was just wondering if anyone had an idea what's wrong....my friend who is a mechanic for the Honda dealer I'm gonna take it to checked it out at my house and said that the ground cables seem fine...that's all I know.....

 

WAG: alternator is on its way out. As I recall, autozone and the like will check charging systems for free. But if you are still under warranty, then the dealer is the place to go. I'm surprised your friend didn't diagnose already though.

I'd do it soon, as it can take out the battery too which just adds to the cost.

 

Or it could be the battery taking it out. The sharp turn radio reset makes me think "battery sludge."

 

Possibly, but remember the power steering is electrical, so turning is an electrical load. Flickering lights is either a bad diode or the voltage regulator going out. my money is on the diode, because the voltage regulator going out should result in the charge indicator light coming on.

regardless, its something bad in the charging system and should be pretty easy to suss out what.

 

Thanks guys....Im gonna take it to the dealer ASAP!.....my whole thing is that the car is new....I bought it early December and it already has a problem!...lol

 

Let us know what the dealer finds out to be the problem. At least it is under warranty.

 

Well I went to the dealer and the service guy said that the cold air intake is causing all the problems....something about too much air going to the motor in which it affects how the alternator works....apparently I'm not the only fit thats gone to that dealer with the same problem having to do with the intake....was he bs'ing me?

 

yeah it shouldn't be battery sludge in a 6month old car. Bad alternator (regulator and/or diodes) sounds reasonable but I'd expect the battery to have enough reserve to power the steering and radio as long as it's got enough juice to start the car.

My money's on the battery having some weird short. Interested to see what this turns out to be too.

 

that sounds like bs to me! Service salesman? or tech? They need to run a charging/starting/battery diagnostic.

 

That sounds bogus to me. Did they say the alternator was bad? Or that the CAI was causing the weird electrical problems?

 

The guy tested the battery out and it showed that it was good....I'm gonna investigate more because a good friend of mines is a mechanic at the same dealer, it's just that he wasn't there today...but I'm gonna ask him to look at it....I'll keep yall posted...

 

The only way the CAI could cause this is if it were shorted against the battery's positive terminal. Saying stuff like "too much air going to the motor in which it affects how the alternator works," is a cry for help. The person saying this is in serious need of it.

Checking the battery is not enough (although I still suspect a battery problem). If everything checks out I'd swap out the battery for a loaner (if anyone has one the right size) and see if it happens again.

How often does this stuff happen?

 

Loose ground cable connection at the transmission or bad cable would be the first thing I would look for. Bad grounds are the most common cause of random electrical "gremlins". A failed battery, alternator or regulator would not cause what you experienced. If the car starts every time, those components are all good.

 

Cold-air intake? No, that's bull.

 

I agree with nikita that the problem is a loose electrical connection. For the problems you are having it has to be a main power cable - ground or a positive cable. This is consistent with the radio and the power steering loosing suddenly loosing power during hard cornering. An alternator is not going to cause a sudden loss of electrical power - the battery can power the car for many minutes. Your problem is measured in seconds.

You can troubleshoot the problem beginning with checking to see if the ground cable bolts are tight. The battery is grounded to the chassis by a short cable fastened just above the radiator on the drive side. The engine is grounded with a short cable that fastens to the passenger side motor mount. The positive cable runs to the starting motor and alternator and then splits off and goes to the fuse box.

It's too bad that dealer personnel are either so stupid or lazy to come up with a bunch of BS about the cold air intake.

 

Thanks for ur replies...I'm definitely gonna check the ground cables and make sure they are not loose...

 

I did not realize how much steering assist the electric motor provides. I rolled by 2012 Fit out of the garage without starting it and was surprised how stiff the steering was. Now I understand why bigpun54 said that he about crashed when the EPS (electric power steering) motor quit.

Besides checking the ground connections, you should remove that small red plastic cover over the positive battery terminal. Under that cover are four high current connections and some fuses for such things as the EPS. Make sure that all the stud terminals are tight. One of those high current connectors goes directly to the EPS motor, but it is not clear in the owner's manual which specific one it is.

In any event, you need to find the source of the problem before it happens again. I can see now that the loss of the EPS motor while you are driving at speed could be a real problem.